


Signing Love

by gaynahmontana



Category: Carol (2015)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:27:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21546022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaynahmontana/pseuds/gaynahmontana
Summary: Everyone has a different reason to learn sign language. For the sweet and young Therese Belivet it is helping others and make everyone feel understood. What she didn't know was that one of the reasons will also be her ravishing sign language teacher, Carol Ross.What will happen, when Therese wants to explore the language, but also her teacher?
Relationships: Carol Aird & Therese Belivet, Carol Aird/Therese Belivet
Comments: 32
Kudos: 96





	1. Meeting Her

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I haven't written in AGES, so please don't expect anything fancy or extravagant. I got this idea from real life, and I just want to live out my fantasy in some way... So, the basic reason why lesbians write stories ;)
> 
> Please, don't feel any pressure to read this story! But if you decide to do so, enjoy and maybe hit me up with a comment! <3
> 
> Have a lovely day and remember to drink water! X

Warm toned lights fill the whole library building. The usual harsh and hospital-like lightning is now changed to this ‘hello-we-are-like-your-home’-styled lightning. All the books seem to glow and tell their own stories just by their covers. The small and cozy library has been shut for a few minutes now, so that the course for American Sign Language may start.

Therese Belivet switches her position on the mahogany chair, which has been located in a circle with the other chairs. It feels like an Anonymous Alcoholics -meeting. She doesn’t know how to feel about the whole idea of a course. Every Wednesday night on a subject that she has no clue about. But Therese knows that she needs to do it. For her, and for a child.

Therese works at a kindergarten. She is the youngest worker in the building, since she is only twenty-two years old. All of her coworkers are over fourty years old, so they see themselves as better employees. Thankfully, Therese has always known better. And the real moment of truth happened last week, when the kindergarten met Liza. Liza is five years old and was born deaf. 

All the other nannies had just shrugged their shoulders. _“Not my problem.”_ Therese had heard them say. Even a reminder of that moment made Therese clench her fists. Therese’s popularity among the children and their guardians wasn’t her age. It was the way she treated the kids. With respect and equality. 

Therese had tried to communicate with Liza with common signs. The signs that everyone uses when they speak. She had also tried showing her emotions; pouting, smiling, scrunching her nose and making silly faces. It has worked so far, but Therese needed more. She wants Liza to feel as equal with the kids, as everyone else.

That is the main reason why Therese, among a handful of people, is sitting at the local library after the closing time. The train of thought is soon lost, when a woman walks in. A tall, well dressed and stunning blonde woman. 

She walks in the middle of the circle, puts her black handbag, which has for sure costed more than Therese’s monthly paycheck, beside her feet and turns her gaze up. A smile that she holds on her face looks as good as her golden necklace. Therese cannot do anything else than stare at her. Suddenly, she feels stupid for wearing blue jeans and a black turtleneck. The outstanding woman is wearing dark red dress, with golden details. Her look was topped of with red pumps and scarlet lipstick. She looks like she’s got her life together. Unlike Therese, whom looks like she just crawled out of the sewer. 

The woman starts to sign and everyone in the room falls silent. Everyone is drawn into the woman, and she seems to notice it with a smug smile. It was that moment when Therese realized, that the woman could tell her to be barefoot the whole winter and she would do it. Just to make her happy. 

“And now in spoken words!” The woman claps her hands and lets out a hearty laugh. A round of giggles fills the room.

“My name is Carol Ross and welcome to ASL course!” She smiles and glances at Therese. “It’s an honour to teach this amazing and rich language to all of you. In this course, you will learn the basics of the language.” 

“Treat this as a new language, as you would do with French or Italian. Because that’s what it really is; a new language” Carol explains as she signs the sentence at the same speed as she talks. 

Therese doesn’t notice it herself, but she tries to sign the words at the same pace. It only comes to her attention, when Carol smiles at her warmly. Therese laughs awkwardly and turns her gaze downwards. 

“I would like to know, why you are taking the class. For me, I started to learn sign language because I needed it at work.” Carol explains as she walks around the circle.

“I work at this furniture shop as a buyer, and my absolutely favorite salesperson is deaf. I really wanted to be able to communicate with her, without a translator, so I just decided to learn a whole new language.” Carol shrugs and smiles. 

She eyes the whole group with a mischievous smile. “What about you?” She asks and looks directly at Therese. She leaves a small pause for Therese to fill in the sentence with her name.

“Oh, Therese.” The younger woman smiles a bit. Her smile is returned immediately, which fills Therese with delight and for some unknown reason, pride.

“Well, my story is nothing interesting… I work at kindergarten and there is this deaf kid. I really want to communicate with them, but I have learned that nodding my head and scrunching my nose won’t take me far.” Therese smirks and huffed laughs fill the room. During the explanation, the smile hasn’t faded from Carol’s features. 

“And now I want to learn how to talk with them, properly. Without shaking my hands like a maniac and traumatizing the whole group. Soon no one will want to learn sign language because they think that it’s only making odd faces and huffing!” Therese smirks. For her delight, Carol lets out a laugh. A real one. 

“Well, Therese. I surely hope that I can teach you something helpful and useful” Carol smiles warmly. “And I admire your dedication for the job. Not everyone would be willing to be so… Caring and kind.” The whole group nods their heads a little and hum in agreement. The gesture makes Therese smile.

Carol asks a few more stories, but Therese seems to only notice Carol. She uses her surroundings so well and captures everyone’s attention so effortlessly. Even when she brushes some blonde hair away from her face, it seems like a scene from a movie. 

“Okay, let’s learn some basic signs, shall we?” Carol smiles brightly, which makes Therese smile. She must look like a smitten teenager, but at the end of the day, who cares? For the first time in forever Therese feels like she waits for something each week. Like she has a goal of some sort.

And what is that goal exactly? Therese’s goal is to learn some basic sign language skills on her own, so she can impress Carol. Even a tiniest bit. Even to make her lift her perfectly shaped eyebrows and raise the corner of her mouth in amusement. 

Even if no one appreciates the work that Therese does at kindergarten, this moment makes everything worth it. Carol appreciates her and in total honesty, that’s more than Therese could’ve asked for.


	2. Impressing Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Therese learns more signs, uses them, gets addicted and soon it's another Wednesday. She wants to make her teacher proud, but does it work?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovelies!
> 
> First of all... Thank you SO much, for welcoming me back in the game! I cannot help it, I just feel so blessed <3
> 
> You are the best readers that a person could ask for... So, as a thank you, I decided to write this next chapter as quickly as I possibly could!
> 
> I hope that you will enjoy this as much as I did while writing it!
> 
> Remember to take time for yourself, it's not selfish, it's healthy! X

From last Wednesday evening to Tuesday evening, Therese has been trying to learn sign language for many hours. She knows that it’s a bit tacky and lame, since she has actually paid to be on a course for it. But something inside her wants to learn things beforehand. She wants to revise things that she has already learned in the class. Not to mention, it is only once in a week. And with Therese’s memory, she would forget everything without any rehearse. 

Therese’s routine has been the same each night. She comes home from work to her studio apartment and opens her laptop. She has found many YouTube-channels that offer her different tutorials and helpful tips to learn sign language. If she signs something wrong, she cannot help it. She curses out loud, unwillingly. 

Each time Therese lets out a bad word, her five-year-old cat, Sylvester, meows angrily. Therese adopted Sylvester, when he was only two. They have been inseparable best friends ever since. Therese always apologizes after cursing, which makes the cat let out a deep sigh and go back to sleep. 

Therese has already learned some common questions, phrases, colors and emotions. She also knows how to sign her own name by using alphabets, which was harder than she wants to admit. She feels like her fingers do things that she doesn’t ask them to do, which equals frustration. 

If Therese ever felt like giving up, all of those thoughts went away when she signed to Liza for the first time properly. 

Liza came to kindergarten at eight, as usual. She had the biggest smile on her face, which melted Therese’s heart. She signed to Liza her greetings to her, asked how everything was and how was she feeling today. Her and her parents’ reaction was absolutely priceless. 

Therese then explained to Liza’s parents that she has been taking a course to learn sign language, and is trying her best to get better at it. She also apologized for some grammar issues, but no one seemed to care. 

_“The fact that you are even trying. You are taking time to learn and understand her. That’s all that matters to us. Thank you for trying to include our daughter in this group and treating her with such kindness. We will never forget this.”_

Even thinking about those words make Therese tear up. Week has went by faster than she could’ve ever imagine, and now she found herself sitting at the library again. 

Therese learned from the last time, so now she is wearing blue jackered skirt, black long sleeve, black stockings and dark ankle boots. She felt so underdressed a week backwards. Therese tells herself that she added the black headband for herself, so that her bangs would be straight and cute. For sure, the reason wasn’t the blonde teacher who looked ravishing last week. 

The clock keeps ticking, but Carol doesn’t arrive. As Therese starts wondering, whether she should be worried or not, the door opens at its own accord. Therese glances at the clock amongst others. Fifteen minutes had passed since the class was supposed to start.

“I am so terribly sorry that I am late!” Carol sighs as she takes her navy colored scarf away. The whole library feels an autumn breeze brush through the room. The smell of late autumn’s wind mixed with Carol’s perfume feels intoxicating to Therese. 

“I will tell you the reason, why I was late…” The woman starts and cracks a smile. “By using my favorite language!” She adds cheerfully, which makes others groan. Everyone wants to know the reason, but no one has the vocabulary to understand. Yet.

Carol starts to sign what happened to her. Therese’s eyes get lost on her look for today. She is wearing dark blue jeans and a white shirt, that is paired up with dark red cardigan. To top of this actual goddess, Carol’s face is framed with gold rimmed glasses.

Therese thinks that she has never seen someone as attractive as Carol. Her daydreaming session is interrupted, when she actually saw a familiar movement of a hand. She understood one word.

Soon one word was paired up with another. “Car… Works… No… Rush… Keys…” Therese mumbles quietly out loud, without even realizing it.

Carol’s eyes meet Therese’s. Now she is looking directly at her and signs more. It’s like there’s only the two of them. Therese gets lost on the movement of her teacher’s hands. She cannot help but think, _how strong and flexible her hands must be._ The thought makes blush creep its way to her cheeks. 

“Your car… Didn’t work?” Therese starts hesitatingly and furrows her brows slightly. “You were scared of the… Traffic? Yes, the traffic jam, so you decided to hurry… But in the hurry, you forgot your keys inside” Therese fills in the blanks and the realization of Carol’s situation gains a few chuckles around the room. 

“So you, called? Yes, called a bus… No, a taxi, sorry! To take you in here” Therese finishes. Carol smiles at her and so does the whole group. “She is amazing” Someone whispers, which makes Therese blush, yet again.

“That was very good!” Carol beams and claps her hands together. Therese smiles shyly and puts some of her hair behind her ear. “So, now when I finally decided to show up… Let’s learn something new, shall we?” The older woman smirks and moves her glasses on the top of her head. 

The class goes by way too fast. Therese feels like she was getting into the whole signing-thing only at the end of the lesson. She feels like she was being dragged back into reality, after the class ends again. Another week without signing with people. Or without seeing Carol. But mostly the group-thing. At least that’s what Therese tells herself.

“You were so amazing today! Each one of you!” Carol smiles proudly. “I can see that you will improve week after week. Soon you will be better than me and take my second job from me.” She adds jokingly, which makes Therese giggle. 

“I will see you all next week!” Carol announces and everyone gets up from their chairs. “If you are on time.” Someone adds on the way out, which makes Carol laugh and lift her hands up. “I don’t have any excuses. _Touché._ ”

Therese struggles a bit with her coat. Her zipper can be a pain in the ass from time to time, and since everyone else has left, she feels even more embarrassed. It’s only her and Carol, whom is looking at her phone. Carol’s phone has a black wallet case, because of course she has those. What else would she have for her phone?

“Your signing was very good today, Therese was it?” Therese’s train of thought was interrupted and she turns her gaze to Carol’s face. Her eyes met hers right away. 

“Yes, Therese.” The younger woman smiles, so that her dimples are visible. “And thank you so much, that means a lot to me. To be quite frank, I have been teaching myself some signs back at home. I cannot help it, I’m so drawn into it!” Therese beams, but feels stupid right after saying all of those words. Why would Carol even care about all of this stuff?

“Oh, that is so amazing to hear! I feel that I’m boring everyone to death during these classes… I am not sure what I’m doing, but I’m trying my best!” Carol says with a small smile playing on her lips. “Have you used sign language yet? Your fingers seem so delicate and your signing is so well thought. To be honest, I envy you and your enthusiasm.” 

Therese smiles at the compliment. Especially, when the compliment was about her fingers… _Delicate fingers._ That’s so hot and she wants to make this moment right here to a scene from a porn. It certainly feels like one. She shakes her head and curses herself. _Behave._

“Um, yeah! A few times, actually. I have this deaf child at kindergarten, so I’ve tried to communicate with her. She seems to understand me, which is an awesome thing! It’s so rewarding, you know? When you reach that mutual understanding. But there’s a long way to go, but it feels so good that I’m even at the beginning.” Therese leans on the back of her chair and looks directly at Carol’s eyes. They have a certain sparkle in them, which makes Therese’s insides turn upside down. 

“That is so sweet, Therese. I’m so glad that you decided to join my class, you seem so…” Carol starts, but stops for a moment. There’s only silence, but it doesn’t fill the air in a negative way. No, it’s… Fulfilling. 

The moment is interrupted with a ringtone. Carol shoots Therese with an apologetic smile, which is returned. Carol answers her phone and talks to it in a shushed manner. Therese doesn’t want to eavesdrop, so she starts to pick up her things.

“Yes, I will see you in a minute! Okay, you nitwit… Yes, we can do that… No, I’m not… Shut up. I love you too, bye.” Carol laughs warmly as she puts her phone away. “It was nice to chat with you, Therese. I hope to see you next Wednesday.”

Carol looks at Therese like she knows the meaning of life. Therese would follow her into the darkness, if she would like her to do so. “I will see you in a week, Carol.” She smiles as she watches Carol walk away. 

Therese takes a deep breath, as the older woman is out of her sight. What is happening to her? Why does she care so much about the woman and her opinions? Why did she look at Therese in a way that made the younger woman’s heart beat faster than the rhythm of Darude’s Sandstorm?

Her thoughts are interrupted, when she sees a pair of gloves in the floor. _Carol’s gloves._ Therese’s eyes widen as she walks over the gloves, picks them up and smells them. They smell like late autumn’s breeze of wind and Carol’s perfume. 

She soon realizes how creepy she must seem like, so she puts the gloves in her purse. Therese hears a cleaning lady walk on the aisle to her right, so she decides that it’s time for her to go back home. 

Therese decides then to give the gloves back to Carol on next Wednesday. At least she has a reason to exchange a few words with her.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh wow, you made it this far... I cannot say anything else than thank YOU! 
> 
> I cannot promise about my upload-schedule, but I will try my best <3
> 
> Leave a comment, if you'd like. It would mean the world to me! :)
> 
> You are beautiful, people care about you and take care of yourself! X


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